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Post by CoonDuke on May 26, 2004 11:19:02 GMT -6
I am a fan of the narrow bladed trowel. It just seems I can get the hole deeper with a narrow one.
My wife got me one of JCs trowels for Christmas. I used it a little last season, and loved it but it was too wide for my liking.
A milling machine fixed that problem and it is now a work of art. ;D
The JC trowel also make a good fox dispatcher!
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Post by trappnman on May 26, 2004 11:24:19 GMT -6
I like a narrow trowel also. I have a tile spade on my truck, and wider trowels as spares- seldom use either.
matter of fact, expet for making the lure hole at stepdowns and transplanting weed clumps- seldom use a trowel much- usually use my masons hammer ot dig beds, rough up soil.
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Post by kevinupp on May 26, 2004 11:28:17 GMT -6
What do you consider a wide trowel?
I think mine (never measured it) is about 3 - 4 inches wide.
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Post by CoonDuke on May 26, 2004 11:28:18 GMT -6
I lot of guys scoff when I tell them this but I carry a masons hammer and a 4 pound sledge. The heavy hammer is used for pounding stakes and the masons hammer is for set construction.
I just don't think I would have the control using one of those heavy hammers with the leaf spring welded to it (Mega Hammer, O'Gormans, etc.)
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Post by CoonDuke on May 26, 2004 11:29:18 GMT -6
Kev, I consider that wide. I believe mine now is under 3 inches.
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Post by dj88ryr on May 26, 2004 11:49:06 GMT -6
2 1/8 IS WIDE ENOUGH FOR ME, BUT LIKE STEVE, i DO NOT USE IT ON MY CANINE LINE, I use a masons hammer, and an auger for hole construction. For Mink, I am getting a tile spade like Ninnys and trimming it down to about half it's normal width.
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Post by Zagman on May 26, 2004 11:54:03 GMT -6
SurgeonDuke: Control? This ain't brain surgery.....pounding and digging, man, pounding and digging...... Get a real hammer and digger and you will love it. Get one with a fiberglass handle. Hell, you got the skills and tools...make one! Garold Weiland: "You can judge a man by the tools he uses".......or something like that. Coonduke: "Who's Garold Weiland? Is he in the WWF? NASCARR?" Zags
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Post by CoonDuke on May 26, 2004 12:08:59 GMT -6
I can see it now... Every time I make a set I will hear Zag's voice in my head saying "pounding and digging...pounding and digging"! Kinda like when you get a song stuck in your head.
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Post by vttrapper on May 26, 2004 12:10:50 GMT -6
I have both narrow and wide trowels. Both work so it really does not matter to me. I have substituted pipe for wood and a steel D handle on all my trowels. Also have welded a pipe to my 5 lb. hand sledge to driving stakes. Steel sifters as well. Nothing breaks now.
frank
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Post by trappnman on May 26, 2004 12:21:45 GMT -6
CoonDuke- don't let Zags fool ya- he has easy trapping in water soaked ground- he doesn't NEED to dig- just a foot stomp and he has a bed made. I'm right with ya- I cannot see any advantage over those 20 lb short sledges some like over my balanced, lightweight masons hammer. I picked up one of those at a convention years back... unbalanced, heavy. I know what a difference a couple of ozs makes in a framing hammer over a days use- and thats 2 oz! A masons hammer is several lbs lighter than a leaf spring welded onto a short sledge..... I need to save my strength to carry out yotes.....
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Post by CoonDuke on May 26, 2004 12:43:09 GMT -6
Kevin, Now that I think about it, it might actually be under 2 inches. I gotta measure it.
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Post by Zagman on May 26, 2004 14:27:42 GMT -6
To me, the reason for the sledge is weight for driving stakes and....well, I hate to say it, a larger kill area. While at the end of the day you may have swung more weight with the sledge, shouldn't you have swung it far fewer times due it's weight, large head,less misses, and the values thereof? I dunno.....well, bottom line, I am finding a trowel to be an extinct animal in my bag of tricks. I use that hammer/digger for new sets and remakes. A trowel is handy for digging out the old hole on a remake though, I guess. On new sets, I use a mattox/Pulaski axe, and when possible, an auger for the hole. With all these big tools, I guess a 2-3 pound digger hammer fits right in and is barely noticed. I will say that a custom trowel is a good investment. I bought one years ago from Jeff Squires and you can really "lean" on it.....it is reinforced in all the right places. I guess my choice of tools gets down to me driving to all sets ( I dont have to carry anything very far) and my run and gun short time frame and being on the fly for my vacation trapping..... Maybe if I was more spread out, time-wise, I would slow down and smell the roses......... and not worry that the cable stake I just drove in took me 15 whacks with the Barbie Playset Hammer vs. eight with the heavy, military-made, O'Gorman-Longliner-Wolfer-Pistolgrip-Navy Seal Approved-Hammer that I use Zags
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Post by Maineman on May 26, 2004 15:05:09 GMT -6
Wow...Zags, thats a mouthful... I carry both but not by design, I broke the end off my wide trowl at the end of the season while digging out frozen traps and picked up a narrow one at Port Royal...fixed the handle and now have 2...I tend to like the narrow one more for digging dirt holes in soft soil then sometimes go in with the wider trowl after a hole is in place...Both have their place but if I had to choose 1 it would be the narrow one... Along the same lines, I used the wider trowl for punching in pockets for coons along creek banks but switched to a small "flat" bottom shovel and a cement spade...I can shave the bank flat and begin the pocket with the shovel and shape and finish it with the spade alot quicker than I could with the trowels..
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Post by CoonDuke on May 26, 2004 15:50:10 GMT -6
Zagger, I do carry a 4 pound hammer for pounding stakes. I wouldn't use anything lighter. We got nasty rocks here and I could never pound in a stake with the masons hammer.
I just love the little masons hammer for making trap beds.
If you are digging holes with your hammer, I can't wait to see how you do it at the convention.
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Post by trappnman on May 26, 2004 15:58:39 GMT -6
"Little" masons hammer? .... you should have bought the Big Boy one CD.....
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Post by wannacatchmink on May 26, 2004 16:01:57 GMT -6
I bought a 2lb or so sledge with the digger on the end from the snare shop last season, fiber glass handle, and the hammer broke off the handle with trying to pry a stake up. Then we took a little carpenters hammer maybe 1/2 pound with a wooden handle and pulled that puppy right out. I dont know if I should send it back and get a new on or what. What would you do? Oh ya back to the topic. Last season I used a narrow trowel and liked it for digging holes. This season I got a JC Conner trowel and it has a wide blade on it and will try out the wide ones. So far for practice sets i liek the wide one to, only thing i dont like is i cant get a narrower hole unless i use a stake, which I normally do.
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Post by JLDakota on May 26, 2004 18:56:45 GMT -6
I'm pretty much with Z man on this one but think I've tried them all including the Barbi doll hammer. My preferance is for the O'G style for pounding stakes and disposibles in my clay ground. Use a mattock (grampa called it a grub hoe) some too when I'm in a hurry to move dirt on new sets. Have used an auger with different sized bits (not woodworking augers) for at least a dozen years and IMO am positive it beats any trowel out there for ease and speed. It also takes care of the horizontal holes in stepdowns but I've been known to use a trowel for those. One just has to use them all and you'll develop something that works for you or you like. Doesn't make any of the rest of the tools wrong. Jim Cundiff of "Power Bedding" fame in Ohio has a short handled heavy hammer with a digger welded on that works real well too.
BTW, I know this is off topic for this thread but Jim Cundiff is a man that can pile up 50 coyotes or more in 2 weeks in his Ohio country and really "gets with the program" as Jim Lucero used to say and unless he's changed Cundiff uses a fiberglass handled full tile spade to dig a tall narrow hole that he feels imitates a canine digging. Jim
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Post by dj88ryr on May 26, 2004 19:15:10 GMT -6
CD, are you that much more rocky than we are up here? I have a 16oz. all steel masons hammer, and never had a problem getting stakes in, or pulling them.
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Post by NittanyLion on May 26, 2004 19:30:49 GMT -6
Use an auger to dig the hole, fast, easy, and efficient.
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Post by Clefus on May 26, 2004 19:56:30 GMT -6
? for those whose use an auger.....do you use a cordless drill or a bit brace?? I have an auger for planting bulbs.....had that thought before...
On hammers..Im with Zag on the big ones....some of this stripped ground here can be a b. my rebar might get a little squirrelly lookin when I pull it but it easily straightens out...
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